SUMMER 2024!
So it’s now dead middle of winter and I’m in Austin making stools in my garage. But that’s a story for another day. Today I want to document the progress we made this summer.
First of all, we finished the kiln. This is huge. When I arrived in June, Levi and dad (Kyle) had already framed it up, put the floor in, insulated the sub-floor, put the metal siding on, and put the metal roof on. The building was basically complete. 20 ft. long, 5 feet deep, 6 feet high, with a 16 ft. wide doorway for sideloading 14 ft. long lumber with the forklift (tractor with forks). All that was left to do was finish insulating, and set up the temperature and humidity control equipment. Dad and I finished insulating the walls and ceiling and doors, and I sealed all the cracks, seams, and holes with silicone. This thing was now a tight, well-insulated box, perfect for drying wood.
The mechanics of the kiln are simple and were conceived by dad. We use a large-room dehumidifier to dry the air and a box window fan to circulate the air. To heat the wood to 140 degF we use an electric space heater. The heater only runs for the last 48 hours. Then, we can open the doors and check the moisture level of the wood with a meter to ensure it is at desired 7% water. To monitor and control our humble mechanical equipment, we are using a bluetooth touchscreen with humidity and temperature sensors and on/off relays to cycle the heat. (This thing was less than $100 on Amazon.) We mounted the touchscreen on the outside back of the kiln, so we can monitor the inside temperature and humidity at any time. We also added a second temperature sensor at the far end of the kiln. (For this we used an inexpensive digital kitchen thermometer. It has the temperature sensor at the end of a long wire lead, for sticking in an oven.) With sensors at both ends, we’ll have a better reading of the whole. The dehumidifier drains to a garden hose through the wall into a bucket. The bucket fills up in the few hours, we dump it, continue, repeat, etc. until the water slows down. Then we know the wood is nearing dry. At this point, we’re ready to heat. After heating and testing with the meter, the wood is suitable for furniture-making. Our DIY kiln works! We dried wood for the remainder of the summer and into the fall.
The second big accomplishment this summer was getting Levi’s slab-flattening router sled constructed. This thing is a game-changer. It allows us to flatten huge slabs with an ordinary router. We used some very straight cottonwood for the frame, so it would be light(ish)… it’s still heavy. The beefy machined metal tracks are not light either. You can push the router wherever you want on the X-Y axis. It glides with ease. The work area is 4 ft. x 8 ft. Any slab or slice, you name it—we can flatten it with precision.
The next big thing we accomplished was cloning a midcentury kitchen table. There was this enamel-topped kitchen table that my great grandparents passed down through the family. You’ve probably seen a table like this. They have pull-out leaves and a drawer. You can use it as a desk, a table for 4, or a table for 8. It is versatile. Practical. I knew someone could make great use of it. The legs unbolt, and the table can be flat-packed for moving or shipping. In our hardwood interpretation of this classic kitchen table, the top is white ash and the rest is black cherry. The inside, bottom of the drawer is painted red. And we made our own finish from beeswax, limonene, and linseed oil. We love how it turned out.
Fourthly, Ivan was successful in doing some growth ring prints. This is a pretty straightforward process—slice a cookie, plane it smooth, sand it, torch it, wirebrush it, clean it, ink it, print it. But it will take some practicing to know exactly how much to torch the wood and exactly how much ink to roll on, etc. Even so, the proof’s in the pudding. We can thumbprint each tree. This is awesome.
Overall, it was a super summer. I’m grateful for all we accomplished, for all the people who put me up and put up with me in Ohio. I look forward to Summer 2025!
